Errorless and Hitless Variable Data Rate Communications

1. A variable data rate wireless transmitter configured to receive input of data from a plurality of input channels and transmit at least some of the data over a wireless variable data rate point-to-point communication link, wherein: the input channels comprise at least one continuous channel; the input channels comprise at least one packet-based channel; portions of the data are associated with priorities; and the wireless transmitter is configured to change transmission of at least some of the portions of the data, based, at least partly, on the priorities associated with the portions of the data, and on a data rate configured for transmitting the portions of the data over the wireless variable data rate communication link, without adversely affecting an error rate associated with the transmission while the wireless transmitter performs dropping and adding portions of the data from transmission.

2. The variable data rate wireless transmitter according to claim 1 and further comprising a multiplexer configured to multiplex at least some of the portions of the data received from the plurality of input channels.

3. The variable data rate wireless transmitter according to claim 1 and further comprising an adaptive framer configured to package at least some of the portions of the data in data frames.

4. The variable data rate wireless transmitter according to claim 1 and wherein the variable data rate transmitter is configured to drop packets from, and add packets to, the portions of the data transmitted from the at least one packet based channel.

5. The variable data rate wireless transmitter according to claim 1 and wherein the variable data rate wireless transmitter is configured to drop channels from and add channels to transmission, and to drop packets from, and add packets to, the portions of the data transmitted from the at least one packet based channel.

6. A variable data rate wireless receiver configured to receive data over a variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link, comprising a delay compensation buffer configured to maintain a substantially fixed delay between input of the data into a wireless transmitter transmitting the data and output of the data from the delay compensation buffer, by reading an indication of a data rate used to input data into the wireless transmitter and maintaining an output rate of the data from the delay compensation buffer equal to the indicated data rate.

7. A system configured to transmit at least some of a plurality of channels over a variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link, the system comprising: a variable data rate wireless transmitter configured to receive input of data from a plurality of input channels, the input channels comprising at least one continuous channel and at least one packet-based channel, and transmit at least some of the data over a variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link, wherein: portions of the data are associated with priorities; and the wireless transmitter is configured to change transmission of at least some of the portions of the data, based, at least partly, on the priorities associated with the portions of the data, and on a data rate configured for transmitting the portions of the data over the variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link; and a variable data rate wireless receiver configured to receive the at least some of the data over the variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link, comprising a delay compensation buffer configured to maintain a substantially fixed delay between input of the at least some of the data into the wireless transmitter and output of the at least some of the data from the delay compensation buffer, by maintaining a suitable output rate of the at least some of the data from the delay compensation buffer.

8. The system according to claim 7 and wherein the change of transmission of at least some of the portions of the data comprises a dropping of the at least some of the portions of the data from transmission.

9. The system according to claim 7 and wherein the change of transmission of at least some of the portions of the data comprises an adding of the at least some of the portions of the data to transmission.

10. A method for transmitting a plurality of communication channels over a variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link, the method comprising: receiving input of data from a plurality of input channels, wherein the input channels comprise at least one continuous channel and at least one packet-based channel; transmitting at least some of the data over the variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link; determining that the variable data rate has changed; and changing transmission of at least some portions of the data, while maintaining a substantially fixed delay and maintaining an error rate substantially as before, or better, in the portions of the data being transmitted.

11. The method according to claim 10 and wherein the changing transmission of at least some portions of the data comprises a dropping of the at least some portions of the data from transmission.

12. The method according to claim 10 and wherein the changing transmission of at least some portions of the data comprises an adding of the at least some portions of the data to transmission.

13. The method according to claim 10 and wherein the variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link is an Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) wireless point-to-point communication link.

14. A system configured to transmit at least some data from at least some of a plurality of input channels, the input channels comprising at least one continuous channel and at least one packet-based channel, over a variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link, the system comprising: means for receiving input of data from the plurality of channels and transmitting at least portions of the data over the variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link; means for receiving the at least portions of the data over the variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link; means for changing the data rate; and means for changing the transmission of at least some portions of the data while maintaining a substantially fixed delay in the portions of the data being transmitted, and maintaining an error rate substantially as before, or better, in the portions of the data being transmitted.

15. The system according to claim 14 and wherein the means for maintaining a substantially fixed delay comprise a delay compensation buffer.